Raj Jayadev writes: "On Oct. 24, the San Jose Mercury News released the video of a San Jose State math major getting beaten and tased by the San Jose Police Department in his home on Sept. 3, 2009. Police were called to the scene after 20-year-old Phuong Ho allegedly wielded a knife during an altercation with his roommate. All the viewer can hear, in between groaning cries of pain and calls for mercy, are the cracking sounds of the batons as they meet 20-year-old Phuong Ho’s head and body, and the torturous zapping of a Taser gun. It is, in a word, disturbing."

"Ho, who through his attorney has filed a civil rights complaint with the FBI, is also facing misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a weapon and resisting arrest. He was not armed when police arrived, and became the recipient of the beat down when he bent down to get the glasses that fell off of his head.

"As a member of a local community group that has been calling on police accountability in San Jose for years now, I have been receiving multiple emails with the subject line, “San Jose’s Rodney King.” They don’t mean the person. They mean the moment. The comparison is natural since both incidents contain the same basic patterns: unarmed men of color excessively beaten without cause by numerous police officers -- and it is all caught on video.

Read More

Silicon Valley Debug: Vietnamese Community Association Responds to Police Beating of San Jose State Student | Raj Jayadev: "What Would Have Happened If Dr. Gates Was Arrested in San Jose?" | SiLiCoN vAlLeY dE-bUg

On September 17th, three CODEPINK activists confronted Condoleezza Rice at a speech inside the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA, calling her a war criminal, responsible for torture and lying the U.S. into a war of occupation in Iraq. They waited until her speech was finished before standing up with "bloody hands" to confront her loudly in front of about 1,000 audience members.

Cynthia Papermaster writes, "We sat in the third row center, right in front of Condi, who gave quite a good speech and had great rapport with the audience. She assumed that her audience supported the USA's dominance of the world economy, and was bold in her descriptions of other countries' flaws. I was most struck by her derisive characterization of the huge influence of corporations in Russia as "Russia, Inc." I think she missed the irony in her comparison of them with the US.

"The three of us had pinned fuschia signs saying "INDICT RICE" to our backs, under our jackets. We sat quietly through her speech, and toward the end, rubbed red paint on our hands. We stood up with the audience for the standing ovation, but didn't sit down. Instead, we took off our jackets so our signs showed, continued standing, and held up our bloody hands...we told Rice she was a war criminal, having enabled torture, lied the U.S. into an illegal war of occupation, etc. She said, "These people came here to hear me, not you," and some other stuff we didn't catch because she was talking at us while we were talking loudly to her. She definitely heard us, loud and clear."

Read more

Jay Bybee Confronted in Pasadena Court on July 6th by Torture Accountability Activists | Former Secretary of State Rice Assailed by Students, Faculty, Former Students at Stanford

Author J. Patrick O'Connor was recently interviewed in San Francisco about his research into the case of San Quentin death row prisoner Kevin Cooper, whose appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court was recently denied, with Judge William Fletcher writing a stinging dissent, declaring that the "State of California may be about to execute an innocent man.” This fall, Cooper will be appealing to the US Supreme Court, which is last chance to avoid execution.

In a 101 page dissenting opinion Judge Fletcher wrote that Cooper was “probably innocent,” of the 1983 murders for which he was convicted, and “if he is innocent, the real killers have escaped…They may kill again. They may already have done so…We owe it to the victims of this horrible crime, to Kevin Cooper, and to ourselves, to get this one right.”

Judge Fletcher’s dissent was recently featured in a front page New York Times article by John Schwartz, titled Judges’ Dissents for Death Row Inmates Are Rising. Schwartz writes that Fletcher “argued that the evidence had been tainted by bumbling and misconduct and suggested that blood linking Mr. Cooper to the crime had been planted by overzealous investigators. And while the Ninth Circuit in 2004 ordered new DNA tests, Judge Fletcher wrote that the lower court had set conditions rendering the results useless. ‘There is no way to say this politely,’ he wrote. ‘The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and flouted our direction to perform the two tests.’”

On May 18, 2009 Kevin Cooper was interviewed by Flashpoints/KPFA radio, where Cooper compared his current situation with that in 2004, when he came less than 4 hours from being executed before a stay was granted: “I was able to survive this madness. And now I seem to be right back, right in it.” Read more

Execution of Kevin Cooper Stopped | Save Kevin Cooper

Supreme Court Orders Evidenciary Hearing for Death Row Prisoner Troy Anthony Davis

On August 15th activists for health care reform faced off with right wing "tea party" demonstrators for the the third time since April in San Jose. Members of the Raging Grannies Action League offered anger management counseling from a booth they set up at the busy intersection in front of Barnes and Noble Books where Sen. Barbara Boxer made a brief appearance to sign her second novel Blind Trust. A second portable booth was manned by a Lucy van Pelt look-alike who offered free psychiatric help, reduced from the price of five cents, striking a chord with anyone familiar with the Peanuts comic strip.

About 20 activists for health care reform, including members of Veterans for Peace, carried signs supporting a Single Payer health care plan. About 100 right-wing activists carried signs denouncing Sen. Boxer's stand on health care reform. Some wore t-shirts saying "Another Patriot Bitterly Clinging to Guns and Religion".

A spokesperson for the Raging Grannies said that the group plans to take their anger management counseling on the road to congressional recess town halls in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Raj Jayadev writes: "What would have happened to Dr. Gates if he were not an acclaimed scholar and author, friend to the President, and someone whose stardom could greatly embarrass a city and county justice system?

"First things first, charges for his disorderly conduct would not be dropped shortly after his arrest, and Dr. Gates, a few weeks after the incident, would just be starting his journey in the criminal justice system, rather than reflecting on it in hindsight, while throwing back a beer with the leader of the free world. Let’s start from there.

"Let me roll out what would have happened if Dr. Gates, were he not a noted scholar, was arrested in my city, San Jose, California with the same fact pattern, even as described by the police report. Starting from arrest, Dr. Gates would have been charged with more than disturbing the peace (penal code 415 in California). From the narrative of what happened at his home, Mr. Gates would have also picked up a 148 resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.

"As for the comment, 'You don’t know who you are messing with,' Dr. Gates would have also likely picked up a penal code 69 (felony in this case), for making a criminal threat to a police officer. Dr. Gates would not know of all these charges until he was arraigned at court." Read more

Why Should Demanding Respect Get You Busted? Beer Will Not Solve This | Gates in Cambridge: First the Outrage of Arrest, Then The Outrage of Denial | Arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: What do they call a Black man with a PhD? | The Gates arrest and the “national conversation on race” | Cambridge Stands Against Racial Profiling-Protest In Support of Prof. Gates

Extremist right-wing "Tea Party" participants descended on the intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester in San Jose on July 5th. There they encountered members of the Raging Grannies and other counter-protesters, who had been singing out for single payer health care on the corner.

Angry "teabaggers," some of whom seemed to delight in the humorous moniker given them by the left wing, tried to block the health care reform activists' signs so they could not be seen by passing cars. The Raging Grannies responded by increasing their volume as they led chants and sang songs supporting a single payer health care plan.

Some tea party participants diverged from the issue of health care, proclaiming themselves to be pro gun rights and against gay marriage. San Jose police officers arrived on horse to monitor the situation when at least one tea party member talked about shooting the peaceful single payer advocates.

Read more and view photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Raging Grannies

On May 5 at a San José City Council Meeting, Raj Jayadev, founder of the watchdog group Silicon Valley deBug, spoke about the deteriorating trust between the San José Police Department and the people of San Jose. In his testimony he called for greater citizen oversight of the San Jose Police Department.

The San José Police Officers Association (SJPOA) took a copy of Mr. Jayadev's official recorded testimony and had their way with it. Specifically, they turned it over to a PR firm they have hired to discredit critics of the police department. That group produced an altered version of the video for the SJPOA website. The altered video attempts to attack Raj Jayadev's credibility, making snide comments about his clothing and use of colloquial language, and adding in quotes from City Council members taken out of context.

On June 8, two City Council members, Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra, quickly denounced inflammatory statements as well as the video on the police union website. The Council members noted that activist Raj Jayadev's testimony was incorrectly characterized as a threat, and signed a letter stating that, "First Amendment freedoms may be chilled when dissent is characterized as threats". Community activists are calling on Police Chief Rob Davis, Mayor Chuck Reed and the rest of the city council to join in disavowing the police union's response to its critics.

Read more | Council Members Take Police to Task for Targeting Activists | Complete Text of Council Members' Letter | Silicon Valley deBug

When San José police shot and killed 27-year-old Daniel Pham in his own backyard last month, many San Jose residents immediately recalled an eerily similar situation 6 years ago when another Vietnamese immigrant, Cau Bich Tran, was also killed by police in her home. In the recent incident, relatives were shouting “don’t kill him, he’s mentally ill!" Yet Daniel Pham was shot and killed within 3 minutes of police response to a call asking for assistance because the victim had brandished a knife.  In the instance 6 years ago, officers arrived at Cau Bich Tran's house in San José, responding to a domestic disturbance call. They shot her after mistaking her vegetable peeler for a cleaver.

Public outcry surrounding Tran’s killing in 2003 created a new policy requiring the city's Independent Police Auditor to review officer involved shootings. But there will be no such review in the case of last month's killing of Daniel Pham. The policy was rescinded by a controversial opinion offered by City Attorney Richard Doyle in 2007.

Today the city of San José faces a new round of public scrutiny. City officials came under criticism for trying to hire the brother of a city police officer as the city's Independent Police Auditor last month, and the police department is being legally challenged over its high rate of arresting Latinos on charges of public intoxication. City policies are being questioned and the public is demanding more input into the process as the City Council begins another effort to find a new top cop watcher. Read more

On May 26th, a delegation of several janitors who were laid off from their jobs at Cisco Systems' corporate headquarters met with San Jose City Council members to share their stories and appeal for the elected officials to reach out to Cisco decision makers on their behalf. The janitors met with staff of City Council members including Madison Nguyen, Ash Kalra, Kansen Chu, and Rose Herrera; and left information for members Nora Campos and Sam Liccardo.

More than 75 vulnerable, low-wage janitors - more than 40% of the total workforce - were laid off by Cisco's contractor ABM in February, despite the tech company's enormous profitability and more than $34 billion in cash assets. Since then, the janitors and hundreds of Silicon Valley community supporters have launched a series of escalating mobilizations to urge the corporation to be a responsible corporate citizen and put the janitors back to work.

The janitors and their community supporters have vowed to continue to their actions to appeal to Cisco to put the wellbeing of hardworking service workers ahead of corporate profits.

Read More With Photos | Massive Protest Decrying Cisco Systems’ Mistreatment of Workers | Justice At Cisco

Previous Indybay Coverage

With Mexican flags and music, Cinco de Mayo was celebrated in San José on May 3rd with the usual pride and enthusiasm. People were just trying to have some safe fun driving slowly down Santa Clara Street, the main thoroughfare from Mexican Heritage Plaza and the east side of the city into downtown. Some were showing off their lowriders and colors of Mexico. Others came by foot, bicycle, bus, and lightrail. The crowds were smaller than previous years, but that did not stop San José police from targeting Latinos.

Indybay contributor Sharat G. Lin walked along Santa Clara Street from Fourth Street to Market Street for a half hour from approximately 6:10pm to 6:40pm and again from about 7:10pm to 7:40pm. Standing well out of the way of police and the stopped vehicles, Sharat photographed each incident to document the police stop and also to let police know that they were being monitored.

During those two half-hour intervals on four blocks of Santa Clara Street, there were no fewer than 14 separate cars stopped by San José police in what appeared to be deliberate fishing expeditions. This amounts to nearly one stop every four minutes. Read more and view photos

Increased concern about the lack of meaningful immigration reform and the high rate of Latino arrests for minor and trumped up charges brought out large numbers of demonstrators to San José's City Hall Plaza in two separate demonstrations during the first week of May. San José police have arrested more people for public drunkenness in recent years than any other department in California. Latinos are being arrested in disproportionate numbers and immigrants, when caught up in DUI sweeps, face potential loss of their pathway to US citizenship. Close examination of arrests in the city reveal a pattern not found in other large cities or in statewide totals.

On May 1st, groups including Voluntarios de la Comunidad and Silicon Valley Alliance for Immigration Reform organized a march from the major intersection of King and Story that wound its way through the city streets to a final rally at City Hall Plaza. Activists called for immigration reform and an end to raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). May first is also International Workers Day and speakers acknowledged solidarity with the world's workers who are suffering from the recession at a time when bankers are receiving government bailouts.

On May 5, Cinco de Mayo, a protest in front of City Hall preceded a City Council meeting where residents expressed that city dwellers can no longer trust the police. The demonstration of about 100 people was a tense affair, held under the intimidating presence of mounted police. Standing in the large open-air plaza, competing with loud music from the opposite side of City Hall, and restricted to the use of one small megaphone by city officials who monitored the event, individuals of Latino, Muslim and African-American heritage recounted their experiences at the hands of overzealous and biased police officers.

Read more | Cops Watch Copwatchers in San José | City Officials Try to Silence Outcry Against Police Brutality | Voluntarios de la Comunidad

Activists took a stand for human rights in front of a Verizon Store in Santa Clara, California on March 30th. Verizon carries Motorola cell phones and accessories — Motorola makes military guidance systems and fuses used in a variety of bombs which they sell to the Israeli army. Demonstrators passed out flyers calling for a boycott against Motorola. Demands include: End production and sales of fuses and other weapons components to Israel; End sales of communication devices to Israel (The "Mountain Rose Communication System" that Motorola designed for the Israeli military enables military invasions and a regime of over 600 checkpoints that prevent Palestinians from getting to school, work and hospitals across Palestinian); End sales of all products that support Israel's separation barrier and settlements, including the "Wide Area Surveillance Sytem" manufactured by Motorola-Israel.

Photos | New York kicks off boycott campaign against Motorola

Pam Walton, Producer/Director of the film *Raging Grannies: The Action League*, is an award-winning independent video producer who is dedicated to telling the truth about American life. She is most interested in changing our culture's prejudicial views of racial minorities and gay and lesbian people, and in promoting citizen involvement in democracy. When she first met the activist group of older women called Raging Grannies on the street where they were demonstrating against the stolen presidential election of 2004, she was immediately intrigued. She followed the daily lives and "gigs" of the Grannies for over two years to produce this, her newest, documentary.

From San Francisco where they sing for women's rights by the Bay at the annual counter-protest to "pro-life" occupiers of the city, to San Jose where they rage against racism, and in Mountain View dressed as "Brides against Proposition 8" and many venues in between, the Raging Grannies have got the Bay area covered and Pam Walton's film doesn't miss a beat.

Heather Robinson of Curve Magazine sums up what is great about this special feature saying it "captures these kick a#$ women in action, with insight into who they are, where they came from and why they set aside their knitting to make the world a better place." She reminds everyone it would be a shame to "miss out on the mini revolutions happening on our own streets."

The documentary premiers on March 7 at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose and screens again on March 8. The Raging Grannies welcome the audience in person at both screenings in song, with an opportunity for Q and A with the film's director and some of the most venerable activists in the Bay Area, from their late fifties to ninety plus years!

Read more

What's *LEFT* for Cinequest | film description and trailer | Event Details March 7 Premiere | Event Details March 8 Screening

Relatives say that 28-year-old Richard Lua was trying to enter his home on February 11th when he was shocked with a taser by police, went into medical distress, and died. Two San Jose police officers chased Lua from a location near his residence, clubbed him with batons and jolted him with a taser. Richard Lua's death brings the total number of deaths following the use of tasers by police in San Jose to six since June 2004 when the city's Police Department eliminated its rules limiting taser use. In December 2008, Amnesty International reported that since 2001, at least 334 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a taser.

The San Jose Police Department is now under investigation by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office who is monitoring the case. The Santa Clara County medical examiner has not released the cause of Lua's death, but the the victim's family reports that he had no known medical conditions that would have led to such a sudden demise. On February 20th, Silicon Valley DeBug, and other concerned activists, held an art and awareness event to raise money for the family to help cover costs associated with Richard Lua's untimely death. Lua was a father to a young child.

At San Jose State University, students are questioning why police are using a weapon that kills so frequently. In an interview with the student paper, The Spartan Daily, a freshman said, "It is shocking because that is what police use all the time on people, and it is not supposed to kill them, just stop them." The SJSU campus police use tasers. They say they have yet to cause a taser-related death on campus. Some are wondering if it is just a matter of time before that happens.

San Jose Taser Death Raises Questions | Gathered Together for Richard Lua, Victim of San Jose Police | Hard Knock Radio on Police Use of Tasers

See also: Dozens March to Ban Tasers in Santa Rosa || Canadian RCMP: "taser guns can kill" -- to restrict use of tasers || Family of San Jose man who was killed by police taser February 11, 2009 are outraged || Another Taser Death from SJPD

In lieu of recent high profile cases of police brutality and murder, some in the community remember that these atrocities are an ongoing epidemic in the Chicano and Black communities. On February 17, 2004, Rudy Cardenas, a father of five children, was shot and killed by state narcotics agent Michael Walker in San Jose. Jesse Villarreal, a nephew of Rudy Cardenas, was interviewed on February 14th about his uncle’s murder, the organizing efforts to bring attention to the issue, the results of the case, and how this incident is similar to the case involving the murder of Oscar Grant.

Walker was formerly a police officer in Watsonville, where he had a history of reported misconduct. Moreover, the murders of Oscar Grant and Rudy Cardenas have three things in common: both victims were shot in the back by the officers, both victims were unarmed, and both officers in the case are being defended with attorneys recommended by the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) Legal Defense Fund. Read more and listen to audio

Previous Rudy Cardenas coverage: San Jose Demands Justice for Rudy Cardenas || Family of Rudy Cardenas Fights Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Killer Cop || San Jose Marks One Year Since The Murder Of Rudy Cardenas || Michael Walker, Killer of Rudy Cardenas, Goes to Trial || Agent Walker Found Not Guilty || Cops Keep it Gangsta

Two American Jewish women, Donna and Darlene Wallach, left their lives behind in San Jose six months ago to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. Courageously sailing on the first two Free Gaza boats, SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty, they had no idea of their fate at the hands of the Israeli navy, which has maintained a total sea blockade of Gaza since the 1970s.

“We had no idea that we would ever reach Gaza. We were preoccupied with what we would do if the Israeli navy stopped us,” Donna recalled.

But after many threats and much intimidation, the Israeli government backed down and let them through. Intense pressure from some European governments like Greece and Cyprus helped. But it is probable that some behind-the-scenes advice from the U.S. government persuaded the Israelis to avoid the adverse publicity of a confrontation in the midst of the U.S. presidential election campaign. On August 23, 2008, the two boats sailed into Gaza Port to the ecstatic cheers of tens of thousands of Palestinians who lined the docks and crammed into boats to receive them.

On January 25th, the two sisters arrived at Mineta San Jose International Airport to a heroes’ welcome. Some two dozen friends and supporters greeted them with banners and hugs as they emerged from the security checkpoint. Read more and view photos

previous coverage: Jan. 2009 Protests in San Jose for Gaza || San Jose Activist, Detained by Israeli Navy in Gaza Waters, Deported (Nov. 27, 2008) || San Jose Activist & 17 Others Detained by Israeli Navy (Nov. 18, 2008) || Human Rights Activists Arrive In Gaza By Sea (Aug. 23, 2008)